


A Hero's Welcome

by VirginiasWolf



Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29179326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirginiasWolf/pseuds/VirginiasWolf
Summary: Another speculation on Richard's return.
Relationships: Camille Bordey/Richard Poole
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38





	A Hero's Welcome

**Author's Note:**

> This one comes from a photo on Instagram that is probably just Ben chilling on set out of costume and some clips where Camille appears to be running around barefoot.

The intensity of the day has finally subsided with the last reminder being a singular prisoner who remains in the cells even after all his friends have been taken to other places for processing and booking. This had been the man who had been found screaming insults at the then captive Catherine Bordey, and this alone puts him on Neville’s list of very rude people, but oddly it had been the commissioner's request that he be kept behind. Apparently he’s a flight risk who has been evading the island’s radar for the past seven years although the other crimes he has committed have gone unmentioned leaving the team to speculate.

Despite his behavior earlier, the man is currently sitting quietly in his cell fidgeting with his necklace chain.

“He doesn’t look like a dangerous felon,” Marlon quips, earning a sharp glare from JP.

“That’s because I’m not,” the man in the cell finally looks up as he speaks.

“Well the commissioner seems to think otherwise,” Neville states.

“That’s not why I’m here.”

Before Neville can further comment the station door opens and INTERPOL agent Camille Bordey walks in. “Where is the prisoner who was yelling at my mother?”

“In the first cell, and may I ask how Catherine is doing?”

-

Being in a cell makes Richard uncomfortable. Of course he knows that it isn’t supposed to be comfortable, and being arrested had to be part of the mission, both for not exposing him as an undercover officer and getting Catherine Bordey to safety, but part of him also wonders if the commissioner left him in a cell as a sort of petty thing for first leaving his role as inspector and then “luring” a great DS halfway around the globe.

Worst of all, the outfit he’s stuck in is the exact opposite of what he still normally wears. Of course he knows he would have been sniffed out in two seconds in his normal suit, but sitting in the Honore jail wearing jeans and a tee-shirt feels extremely wrong.

Then suddenly as he’s trying to make conversation with the inspector the station door opens and he hears Camille’s voice and apparently she’s looking for him, although she does call him the prisoner who yelled at her mother, so for a moment he worries she is upset with him. Still his need to just see her overcomes his fear of her wrath and he walks over to stand pressed against the bars.

Seconds later Camille enters the room with the youngest member of the team trailing after her. The young man stops in the doorway, but Camille immediately makes her way over to the cell and kisses him squarely on the lips.

“I’ve missed you,” Camille murmurs against his lips before pulling away.

“It’s only been a couple of hours since you last saw me,” Richard snorts his logic brain taking over despite his best attempts otherwise.

“Yes, but I had to pretend to arrest you, and then Maman insisted on bandaging my feet before she would let me come and get you.”

“Because you insisted on chasing a suspect barefoot.”

“I was standing in the ocean when they took her.”

“Oh.” Of course protecting Camille’s mother had been the entire reason they had come back to Saint Marie. Because of his “death” Richard had been inserted deep undercover with only Camille and the commissioner knowing of his presence. Of course neither of them had expected Catherine to be abducted or that saving her would entail having to pretend to yell insults at her so that the team could easily find her.

There is the sound of a throat clearing and when Richard turns he realizes the entire team is now watching them. “I suppose there’s a fair bit Agent Bordey hasn’t told us.”

Camille blushes adorably for a moment before speaking. “This is my partner, Agent Richard Poole. He was working undercover.”

“Man, if I greeted Officer Hooper like that, his wife would hit me,” the youngest officer states.

This earns an exasperated “Marlon no.” from the man who is clearly his partner.

Camille however blushes again. “We are also romantic partners. As he is not a criminal and the commissioner knows he is here, perhaps he can be released? Non?”

-

Camille suspects that when Richard suggested they invite the entire team to dinner, “so Catherine can be surrounded by all her friends”, he also believed he was finding a clever way to divert the constant mooning her mother has been giving him.

Of course she also knows her mother well enough to know that her boyfriend has only managed to lead to more people seeing him being fussed over. He deserves the attention too. Camille doesn’t want to think about what might have happened if Richard hadn’t been the one to find her mother or hadn’t figured out how to draw the team to her without exposing himself or leaving her alone. If things had gone wrong, Camille could have lost the two most important people in her life at the same time.

Instead, she is making her way into her mother’s crowded bar clinging to the arm of a freshly shaved, polo shirt wearing Richard Poole and there is celebration in the air.

As soon as they reach a table Camille sits down, eager to be off her injured feet and Richard leans down to kiss her before speaking. “I’ll go get our drinks.”

He has barely made it five feet before Catherine approaches him. “The hero has arrived.”

“Catherine, I’m not…” Richard sputters before shooting Camille a desperate cry for help. She won’t let him get out of it this easily though.

“You’re on your own,” she mouths in response to his silent plea, ignoring the betrayed look he gives her as her mother clasps his arm.

“Attention everyone.” From the deepening look of horror on Richard’s face, Camille assumes the entire room must have turned at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Although I know he is very shy, I would like to draw attention to the man who saved my life today; the brave, intelligent and very handsome Richard Poole.”

“Jesus Christ, Catherine,” Richard mutters at the last part only to yelp when Catherine kisses his cheek as the room erupts into cheers.

Apparently nonplussed by his reaction, Catherine calmly states, “I will get you and my daughter your drinks,” before walking away.

“Well your mother is certainly misguided,” Richard states, sitting down next to Camille.

“You are a hero.” She nestles against his shoulder as she speaks.

“No more than yourself or the officers who worked to find her.”

Camille is about to remind him again of how he found her mother first and protected her, but somehow she doubts this will work so instead she states, “Well you’re my hero and no matter how much you insist otherwise that is not changing.”


End file.
